The Sea
by FrostFromFire
Summary: They were once children. They were children during a time when innocence existed. Now with the worlds forever cursed in Darkness, childhood was merely the shadow of a wistful memory. And that's why the only thing he could remember was the sea. OT3, SRK.
1. Driftwood

(A/N): So yeah... I've always been fascinated about post-apocalyptic stories and how characters react to them. I decided to experiment with the idea of how Sora, Riku, and Kairi would react to a kind of a "post-end of the world" scenario. This is the story of their struggles to come to terms with the fact that the order of the worlds has fallen and, at least for the time being, they're powerless to do anything about it. I've tried to make this first chapter introspective so you can see how/why the characters have changed.

Just a minor warning: this is an OT3 (SoraxRikuxKairi) story, just in case you're offended by that. It probably won't be all that smutty, but it will blatantly be there.

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts... that'd be... Square Enix and Disney, I think? Definitely not property of FrostFromFire, I can tell you that much.

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**Chapter One: Driftwood**

_The very existence of these worlds is futile. They will end, and none of us will be remembered._

He fumbled the dry, dead stick in his hand, running his fingers against its wave-smoothed surface, its bleached bark crumbling to the ground as a sturdy grip shattered its structure. A palm unclenched the pathetic driftwood, its splinters crumbling as they fell to the sable ground.

_We are merely dust in an ineffable universe._

He closed his eyes, the taste of salt on his pallet. It was in times like this that he could remember the sea… the ocean that had carried his dreams from the brink of despair, guided his aspirations that turned so quickly into nightmares.

_The sea… _He couldn't remember much from his childhood, but the sea… that had stayed with him through gruesome fights and hopelessly lost battles, through shattered innocence and forgotten memories. As he listened to the gentle waves surge in and out, their nimble fingers sifting though the sand, he could almost feel the sun on his back, the laughs of his friends as they swam playfully among the currents, splashing water at each other in childish games. When they slept at night the moon guarded their small houses, protecting them from the diseases of the world.

"_Riku, find Kairi and go! I'll look for Donald, Goofy, and the King!"_

"_But what if you can't find them? What if you can't get out in time?"_

"_I will; I promise!"_

But the sea that lapped at his feet was different from the one he had known those years before. Once it danced, sang, harmonized with the islands in a cheerful melody. Now it groaned in old age, its ebb cowering at his knees, begging for some kind of release from its dismal prison.

Like every good thing the worlds had ever known, his childhood had ended. These days, with constant, looming clouds steeping over the island's skies, their sad demeanor overshadowing each optimistic thought, it was always night… but without the moon, without stars. Without stars, it was impossible to dream. Without dreams, it was impossible to hope.

"_The worlds… have fallen?"_

Yes, they were once children. They were children during a time when innocence existed. Now, with the worlds forever cursed in Darkness, extinguishing every light that attempted to fight against its towering force, childhood was merely the shadow of a wistful memory.

"_I feel old. Old like a man who's lost hundreds of bloody wars. Like a person who's killed his best friend out of jealousy and rage. And I'm almost… without light. I'm without light, without hope, without the sun and the stars…_

"_And that's why the only thing I can remember is the sea."_

"Stop thinking so much. That's my job."

Sora turned slowly, immediately discerning the familiar voice that rose against the waves. He greeted Riku with a slow wave of his hand, beckoning him forward. He glanced briefly at Sora, coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around his chest. Sora sighed into the embrace, casting his eyes outward at the endless gray waters.

"So what're you moping about this time?" he pestered, unwilling to leave Sora to his thoughts.

Sora smirked slightly. "C'mon, Riku. I don't mope. I'm all 'stupid smiles', remember?"

"Yeah, not anymore…"

His lips turned into an uneasy frown. In all honesty, he had never expected to change, to go from being the simple-hearted, easygoing boy who had believed beyond all doubt that the good of the world would always triumph over Darkness, to the pessimistic, down-to-earth person he was today. But it had happened. With the condition of the worlds, with everything through which he had survived, it was almost destined to happen. He had lost nearly everything he held sacred. His parents and sister had died early in the war, during the first string of attacks. He fought a constant internal battle, telling himself that if he hadn't been at Disney Castle discussing war strategies with the King, he could have saved them. Kairi's father had died in that massacre as well, leaving her terrified, widowed mother to fend for herself. The poor woman died not a month later when Destiny Islands were invaded by Heartless. It was during this siege that Riku's family was targeted; bringing despair upon Keyblade masters was a main goal of their offensive. They killed all but his younger brother, who, at fifteen, decided to join Sora, Riku, and Kairi on their quest to stop the Darkness. He perished within a week.

Nearly everyone on the islands had been killed, their homes demolished, their civilization left in battered ruins. The few survivors banded together, building makeshift cottages like the ones Sora remembered from the play island of his childhood. Their "village", as it had been deemed, consisted of seven houses perched near the edge of the ocean. They were small, dirty hovels, but they offered protection from the rain and the harsh winds of the sea. And his contained the two people about whom he cared the most in the world. That, he believed, was solace enough to love the tiny hamlet.

"Kairi caught a bunch of fish," Riku attempted conversation once more. "We might actually be able to eat a real meal today."

Sora entwined his fingers in the hand at his chest, squeezing encouragingly. "Let's get back. We can't leave her to do all the work on her own."

They walked through the mist shrouded forest, their eyes barely able to discern the worn path. The walk back from Sora's solitary spot on the beach was not a far one, and they managed to wind through the woods in under half an hour. Sora almost smiled as he looked upon their tiny cottage. They had built this civilization (dare he use the word for something so primitive?) from the battered remains of a people who had long ago lost hope for anything more than the will to survive. And sometimes, however rare the occasion, they would actually smile. Smile at him, at his friends, thank them for banding them together and showing that it was possible to survive, even to have fleeting moments of peace and happiness, in a world where Darkness reigned. He was glad of that, and yet for all his gratefulness that at least he had been able to save a _few _people, he was unable to delve into that happiness.

Kairi smiled widely at them as they unhinged the door from its primitive clasp, letting themselves into the main room of the hut. She sat at their small table, skinning the fish on a flat rock that she used as a primitive cutting board. At their entrance she stood, a wide smile on her face as kissed Riku tenderly before moving to Sora. He closed his eyes at the embrace. Her lips tasted of the sea, like the cool air that rushed in after a storm. A slight hint of pineapple lingered on his breath as they broke away. She smiled again, that wide smile that for two years had been without the once common glimmer in her eyes. But it was of little importance, he supposed; it was unlikely that such a strong hope would ever be reignited in her. Yes, the familiar happiness of comradery would suffice.

"I was thinking we could make kabobs," she said, pointing to the thin cubes of fish she had cut. "Maybe add some salt, coconut, pineapple… You know, a little flavor instead of the same old one-food-per-meal thing we've had going on."

"We can use the batch of salt I made last night," suggested Riku, because these days they didn't have the luxury of buying or finding salt; they had to make it, take a pot of seawater and boil it down until only the sediments were there. It was an annoyingly arduous job, but a bit of spice was a too seldom experienced luxury, and the taste of salt could often be enough to make one _want _to persevere through the hardships.

"Good idea," Sora agreed. "Why don't we invite over Selphie and Tidus? After all, they shared their shallots a couple weeks ago when we didn't have any food."

"Just as long as she doesn't bring that… instrument," Riku snickered.

"Fat chance," Kairi said disdainfully. "She carries that thing with her _everywhere_."

Several months beforehand, Selphie had found a strangely shaped log that resembled the shape of a small guitar. Having loved music above all else before the war, she missed it terribly and took it upon herself to construct a makeshift instrument by hollowing it out and attaching wires she had found in the debris. It was one of the most horrendous sounds Sora had ever heard in his life, but sometimes, when it was far away and the sound of waves muffled its obnoxious cacophony, he could almost hear the beautiful tune it was meant to portray. It was during these times that he missed music the most.

Sora shrugged. "Tidus might be able to convince her otherwise… I mean I know Wakka could have, but…"

They rarely talked about Wakka. He had disappeared after the second string of attacks, and none had heard even a whisper of his whereabouts since. Sora suspected he was probably dead, his body blown to pieces or buried under one of the insurmountable piles of rubble left in the old city. But still, the lack of a body always left the smallest shard of hope, however miniscule and misleading it might have been.

They started a small fire in their makeshift, likely structurally unsound chimney and speared the fruits and meat with long sticks, smoking them over the flames. Selphie and Tidus showed up just as they were pulling the kabobs from heat.

"Hey, guys," Tidus greeted, his smile similar to Kairi's. Even his once eternal optimism had been extinguished.

Sora turned to them, sighing in relief. For once in her life, Selphie was sans the horrible guitar.

"You're just in time!" Kairi chirped, setting the skewers on the small table and beckoning the others forward as she sat cross-legged at the low surface.

They enjoyed a peaceful meal, one of the few moments of tranquility that Sora let himself experience. Here he was, talking and reflecting with friends about their lives before that impenetrable Darkness had strangled their existence. They might enjoy this night, feel a bit of the light still left in their hearts, but he knew that by tomorrow their happy reverie would be but a forgotten pastime in a world too ancient for hope.

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Well, there's my first chapter. Actually I'd rather think of it as a pilot because I'm not sure if this idea's going to work or not. Kingdom Hearts generally has a lighthearted theme and this definitely... doesn't. So if you can spare a few moments of your time, please let me know what you think!


	2. Blood and Paopus

Okay, so this is the absolute longest I've ever gone without updating a fic. There really are no excuses for it taking me this long; I'm sorry.

**WARNINGS: **OT3-ness (Sora, Riku, and Kairi), same as last chapter. Still rated T for now.

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Never have, never will.

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**Chapter 2: Blood and Paopus**

Paopu fruit had lost every shred of mystery and intrigue it once held. In one of the first days after the collapse, Riku had witnessed two men fighting over the sacred fruit, their limbs flailing, blood spewing, thrashing, soaking into the sand. The weaker had ended up dead, his life smothered because of the greed of starvation, because that sense of irrevocable devotion it once held had been lost to primal instinct. Riku had shared many with Sora and Kairi, and he doubted the two of them believed the old fables any more than he did. That intrigue was one of innocence and naiveté, pieces of his personality he had abandoned years before. Love was one of the few positive aspects of his life, and Riku refused to believe that a star-shaped fruit could pull him any closer to the destinies of those he loved. Starving, scrapping, ripping it into pieces that were gobbled before anyone else could steal them… that's what he remembered of paopu fruit.

"_Wear a smile for their innocence, a grin to shy from pestilence."_

Sora and Kairi's personalities had changed so rapidly that Riku could barely see a specter of their once bright intrigue. Sometimes he wondered if he had imagined Kairi's sun-speckled smile, the radiance that once gleamed in eyes that were as blue as the sea had been. Now with the sun forever clouded, they appeared gray, as though they had become muddled with the world's despair. Sora's somehow remained blue, even against the dying light of the fire in their primitive hearths. But the life behind them had long ago withered, desiccated. Every tattered dream had fled, and three years of desperation left Riku with only the memories of that unrelentingly optimistic boy. So he would smile. He would laugh, grin, _chuckle _for their sakes.

"How do you stay so optimistic?" Kairi asked one night as she lay curled up in his arms. The sun had long since set, and despite their best efforts to search for Sora, he had not returned from his fishing trip.

Riku sighed, burying his face in salty red locks. He reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly in reassurance. "If I wasn't, I'd have given up a long time ago. Sora will be back; I promise."

Kairi shifted in Riku's arms and turned to face his cerulean eyes. They were barely visible in the hut's dank light. "You shouldn't promise anything these days. What if he got lost at sea? What if the wind was too much and it carried his boat away? Or maybe it sprang a leak and-"

"Calm down," Riku brushed light fingers over her lips. "Sora's too strong for that. Try to sleep; I'm sure he'll be back by morning."

Riku listened to Kairi's breathing grow steady as she drifted into an uneasy slumber. Their dreams were never peaceful. The specters of the dead always lurked in the recesses of their subconscious. Even the most mundane of reveries promised the recollection of a dead sibling, parent, friend… So Riku could not sleep, not with the troubling knowledge that even in her dreams Kairi was thinking of Sora's feared demise. Sora's demise… how dare he even consider such a horrible thing? It had been Sora who wrenched him through the cataclysm that had stricken the worlds. Kairi may have comforted him, but Sora made him stronger, urged him to struggle through the heaps of rubble, drove him to fight for a will to survive in a world that knew only destitute.

Riku hugged Kairi tighter, enveloping her into his arms. It felt wrong without another body there, without the pillar that Sora provided. The three were an inseparable unit. When one was absent, the other two faltered, crumbled. When Kairi traveled to one of the smaller islands to forage for food with Tidus, Riku and Sora were without her gentleness and purity. If there was a storm and Riku found himself stranded in the woods for a night, he returned to the worried expression of his hutmates, who had missed the solace of his comfort and strength. When Sora was missing… and Riku refused to admit this to anyone but Kairi… his heart ached as though a piece had been cleaved from his chest and strewn to one of the forgotten worlds in the outer frays of the universe. It was a heavy thought, and perhaps a bit melodramatic at times, but with their world in such an unstable condition, Riku couldn't help but feel this way.

Hours passed before the door finally creaked open. Kairi still slept uneasily, but Riku had barely closed his eyes since night had fallen. He tried to untangle himself from Kairi's limbs, but his swift movements and the sounds of Sora's entry woke her from an already light sleep.

"Hmm…" she grumbled, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings. "Sora!"

Kairi jumped up and scampered across the small room, the light from Sora's candle her only guidance. She swung herself into his arms and pressed a furious kiss against his lips, knocking the old burlap bag from out of his hands.

"What took you so long?" she asked breathlessly. "We were worried sick!"

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling her into a strong hug. "You know the paopu tree on the old play island? Well, no one really goes out to it anymore, so the fruit's really had a chance to grow. We've been low on food, so I figured I'd grab a bunch."

"And it took you _that_ long?" asked Riku as he picked the bag off the ground and set it on the table.

"Hey, I'm not exactly an expert navigator at night," he defended. "I would've waited 'til morning, but I didn't want you guys to worry more than I knew you were. I got us food, didn't I?"

Kairi dug through the bag and pulled out a plump, ripe paopu. She surveyed the fruit, looking indeterminately between it and Sora. "I _guess _I can forgive you," she said with the semblance of a smile. "Riku, on the other hand… We both know he's not going to say anything about it, but he didn't sleep a wink while you were gone."

Riku glared at Kairi. The fact that both of them were thinking the truth was one thing, but he hadn't expected her to verbalize his feelings for Sora's well-being. He sighed, doubting his mask fooled either of them.

"Sorry, Riku," said Sora as he reached into the burlap bag and pulled out another paopu as a peace offering.

He could feel the edges of his solemn expression crack as Sora stared at him with serious eyes, their bright hue dancing in the light of the candle. There was a glimmer in Sora's expression that Riku rarely saw anymore, but he was unable to place its catalyst. He told himself foolishly that perhaps it was the paopu, but he knew that Sora had given up on such childlike pretenses long ago. Brushing away the thought, Riku ripped off one of the fruit's corners and wedged it into his mouth. He had forgotten how hungry he was. Without another thought, Riku tore into the fleshy fruit.

"Hey, that was the best one!" protested Sora, a slight smile on his lips. "No need to pig out…"

"Last I checked, potato chips were for pigging out, not fruit," Riku cocked an eyebrow and took another bite.

"Last I checked," said Sora, ripping off a piece of Riku's paopu. "Potato chips didn't exist anymore," he stuffed the piece into his mouth as a small trickle of juice fell from his lips. "Damn, this _is_ good."

"Hey, watch it," Riku pulled the fruit away from his friend. "You gave it to me, remember?"

"Yeah, but I'm the one who toiled through the dark night just to bring - it - back!" Sora reached forward, wrenching the paopu from Riku's grasp.

"Boys…" murmured Kairi as she leaned back to watch their never-ending competition.

"Well, you shouldn't have been so careless," argued Riku as Sora dodged his ruses.

"Oh yeah, and why not?"

Riku stopped his feigned attacks, frowning slightly. Sora smiled with an expression of artificial innocence that somehow managed to creep onto his face. He had cornered Riku and knew it.

Riku sighed. They all knew. Why, after so much time, did he still have difficulty verbalizing it? "Because we… because I… was worried about you."

"Thanks, Riku… didn't know you cared so much," there was that smirk, the same one that graced his features all those years ago, back when they gazed at the night's sky and contemplated the existence of other worlds. Back before the knowledge of those worlds had brought destruction upon their fragile lives.

Riku couldn't help but smile at the stinging joy he saw in that grin. It belonged to Sora, but not really. It may have fit the innocent, bumbling fourteen-year-old, but on the hardened features of one who had seen too much in his early adult life, it seemed almost contrived.

"Shut up, asshole," Riku shook his head, a cynical laugh on his breath as he moved closer to Sora. There was only one way to get that stupid grin off his face. And Riku had to, because its mixed meaning was killing him. So he leaned forward and kissed him, pressed his lips against Sora's windburnt, sea-cracked ones. The kiss was rough, lingering, almost desperate for an affection that had gone too long unquenched. Their tongues touched for the briefest moment, and Riku could taste the familiar tang of the paopu as it mixed with the taste in his own mouth. Sora pulled away after only a few moments, pressing his forehead against Riku's. He didn't speak, but the depth of blue in his eyes spoke the words they both knew would sound ridiculous if verbalized.

Riku shifted away, but only to encompass Kairi into their small huddle. Occasionally she stood back when he and Sora were sharing an intimate moment, and neither boy could figure out why. Both had asked her numerous times, but Kairi only ignored the question. Perhaps she felt that she was driving a wedge between the two. Riku shrugged away the thought. If anything, she held them together.

Sora offered the remaining pieces of the paopu to his friends, fumbling the fruit in his hands.

"Hmm…" considered Kairi, leaning forward to grab one of the remaining spikes. "This is better than mine. You said it came from that tree we used to sit by, right?"

Sora nodded. "It was the highest one. I almost fell out of the tree trying to get it," he dug his finger into the pulp. "Completely worth it if you ask me."

Riku had to silently agree. He linked arms with Kairi, leaning down to kiss the residual paopu juice from her lips. The kiss was much different than the one he had shared with Sora; her lips were soft, smooth… somehow free from the battering hardships in her life. With his eyes closed, he could taste that masked sense of innocence that he saw on Sora's face only minutes before. And it killed him.

Maybe that's why he hated the idea of the paopu so much to begin with. A sweet, star-shaped fruit that entwined the destinies of those who shared it. Yeah right. It was the same as a coconut, pineapple, or strawberry. All of that destiny garbage was a myth that naïve dreamers had placed upon it centuries before. It was a simple fruit that sustained their lives and _allowed _them to be together by that fact alone.

"I really am glad you're back," Kairi whispered in Sora's ear.

"Me too," he looked at her with eyes tired from rowing and climbing and navigating through the cloud-covered night. Sora leaned down and cupped her chin in his hand, bringing her into a passionate yet gentle kiss. Riku smiled slightly at their embrace, Sora's hand still at his hip and his fingers still locked with Kairi's.

When the kiss was broken, the three remained in a silence that encompassed all of Riku's thoughts. It was love, simple as that. He closed his eyes as Sora kneaded a thumb into his back and Kairi absentmindedly fumbled with a lock of his hair. It was this comfort, this closeness, that was to be envied. When they settled down to sleep after such an arduous day, Riku was glad to find himself in the middle. Kairi snuggled against him, falling asleep in his arms as she had earlier. Sora settled against Riku's back, draping an arm across his waist and hooking Kairi's hand in his own. With their missing pillar back in place, Riku was able to find sleep in the pitch-black hut, and it had nothing to do with paopus.

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I usually kind of hate paopu-based stories because they're done way too often, so I'm still a little surprised I wrote this. I tried to put a new spin on it though, and I'm hoping I pulled it off.

Thanks for reading!


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